The 3-minute interview: Tom Nastick
Examiner Staff Writer
November 6, 2009
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| Tom Nastick (Courtesy photo) |
Over the past year, the National Archives and Records Administration has been busy celebrating its 75th anniversary with exhibits and public programs. Nastick, producer of public programs, has been responsible for implementing some of the special displays still available for public viewing, including the BIG gallery, which features item's like William Howard Taft's bathtub and Shaquille O'Neal's size-22 shoes, plus a noontime archival film series, which Nastick runs.
What is significant about the 75th anniversary?
Since 1934, the archives has been responsible for preserving and making available the permanently valuable documents of the federal government. I think lots of people have said, including Thomas Jefferson, that, "the basis of a democracy is a well-informed citizenry." So the archives serves that function by making the records of the federal government available, and through that, making the government accountable for their actions.
Why were the archives created in the first place?
Before 1934, the government's record keeping was not in the best shape. It was up to the individual agencies to maintain their own records. Some did it very well, some did it not so well. There was a need recognized in the 1930s that there should be one centralized agency involved in that.
What has the archives been doing to celebrate?
I guess we wanted to do something novel to celebrate the anniversary. The BIG exhibit celebrates big records. We have on display many things that normally don't get exhibited just because of their size, including the 13-foot scroll of the Articles of the Confederation, which was the first constitution of the United States.
What's can people learn from the exhibits?
When people think of the National Archives, they may think just of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the Bill or Rights, which are on display in our rotunda, but we like to take them behind the scenes and show them records still matter, and that there's a variety of records at the National Archives.
- Ben Giles
